Grace was still steaming about Linda when she got to the store. She slid the key into the lock, and the cheery bell welcomed her inside. She couldn’t entirely blame her friend, she reasoned, because if Grace had walked in on Linda in the arms of a stranger, she would have questioned it, too. Especially if those arms belonged to a German. But still. Linda was like a dog on a bone. If she wasn’t so darn nosy there would be no problem at all.
A square of paper lay on the floor by the counter, neatly folded. She picked it up and turned it over, startled to see her name printed on the other side. She’d seen that handwriting before, she thought, and unease stirred as she unfolded the note. Grace never had been able to get past her terrible habit of flipping to the end of a book to see the ending first, so she couldn’t stop her eyes from dropping to the name at the bottom. Her pulse quickened. Rudi.
Hello Grace
I am sorry. I must go away. I cannot make Trouble for Family.
Grace, I am very sad to leave you. You are special to me. I am dreaming of you, and I keep you safe in my Heart. Thank you for Trust, for believing in me. I wish you Happiness in Life.
Mit herzlichen Grüßen,
Rudi
She leaned against the counter and read the note twice more, blinking through tears, trying to convince herself it wasn’t real. But every time she read his letter the words said the same thing.
He was gone.
A teardrop fell and smudged his writing, so she set the letter on the counter to keep the rest of it dry. She folded her arms to stop herself from reaching for it again, but she couldn’t simply forget the carefully drawn letters. What had been going through his head as he stumbled through the words? What did he mean about causing trouble? Had he done something? The thought that he might be hiding another secret made her feel a bit queasy. Or was it something else? Had she done something? Said something? Had the intimate moment they’d shared that morning chased him away?
She pressed her hands against her cheeks, imagining she could still feel the warmth of his coat against her skin, rough and reassuring, smelling of wood and grease and Rudi. That memory and this little piece of paper were all she had of him now. All the happiness she’d felt, all the hope and light . . . it was gone. How could he have left her? What could have made him—
The truth hit her. Linda. He must have overheard her threats. And though Grace knew her family was doing the right thing, Linda’s accusations had still made her feel ashamed somehow. What would that have felt like to Rudi, hearing that his very presence endangered the Bakers? She knew how much he respected her father, how much he’d come to trust and love her family. He would have left without hesitation, needing to protect them. What would she have done in his shoes?
“I wouldn’t have run,” she informed the letter. “I would have stayed. I would have fought back.”
The more she thought of his leaving, the tighter her jaw became. Why hadn’t he come to her? Maybe they could have solved it together if only he’d trusted her. He was always so full of compliments, but what about commitment? What about sticking around when the going got tough? How could he just leave her like this?
Except she also had to admit that life here wasn’t the same for Rudi as it was for her. She was in no danger of being thrown in jail—or worse—and nobody was about to get in trouble because of her. Rudi was probably right to go, she admitted, except . . . when she thought of him gone, she felt off balance, as if an empty space had just opened up beside her.
She teetered on the edge, fighting disbelief. How could this have happened? They were from different worlds in every sense of the word, and yet despite everything, they’d found each other. They’d found love . . . then he’d left it behind.
“Stop that,” she said out loud, containing her emotions. She had no right to just stand here and feel sorry for herself. She had work to do. A life to live. She had it so much better than so many other people. If Rudi was gone, he was gone. She would have to accept that and move on. Stepping behind the counter, she reached for her apron and tied it around her waist. She needed to focus on inventory, since the store was running low on a few items. List in hand, she walked to the shelves and started marking things down.
But when she reached towards the higher shelves, her mind flew right back to Rudi, to how he’d stood there for the longest time, reading labels with such determination. She thought of his first tentative efforts to barter food for fur, then his pride when he’d given her that sweet ladybug, still perched in a place of honour in her bedroom. She thought of the dance, of how her heart had pounded when his arm slipped around her waist. She’d followed his steps, trusted him to guide her. She couldn’t recall anyone else being in the building, had no idea what song the band played, but she remembered with perfect clarity the sense of contentment that had filled her entire being during that one brief dance.
He’d approached her as a stranger, walking across that dance floor and offering his hand. It was true he’d come from a whole different world, but there was nothing foreign about Rudi anymore. Not to Grace. Being in his arms felt like home. Like she’d finally found what she hadn’t known was missing. She wanted him. She loved him.
She’d survived loneliness before, knew its ache, but everything was different this time. With her brothers, she had felt as if everything she’d ever known in her past was gone. With Rudi, it was her future.